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$xhtml = array(
	'<{title}>' => 'The university&apos;s continued commitment to being horrible in subtle ways',
	'takedown' => '2017-11-01',
	'<{body}>' => <<<END
<img src="/img/CC_BY-SA_4.0/y.st./weblog/2018/06/20.jpg" alt="The ceiling is in shambles" class="framed-centred-image" width="649" height="480"/>
<section id="sewing">
	<h2>Repairing my shorts</h2>
	<p>
		I ripped my only functioning pair of black shorts again a couple days ago.
		Early this morning instead of getting to bed, I repaired both that pair and the other ripped pair I&apos;ve had on hand for months.
		I really wish that sewing machine functioned properly; it&apos;d save me hours of work hand-sewing my clothing.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="dreams">
	<h2>Dream journal</h2>
	<p>
		I dreamed there were a bunch of playing cards, each representing authority of some sort.
		The higher-ranking cards had some sort of thing they&apos;d physically let you do.
		For example, the ace of spade, the boss-of-all card, was used to open a door to ... somewhere.
		I forget where now.
		I was trying to convince an evil mastermind posing as a $a[CEO] to give me that card so I could go rescue someone beyond that door.
		They put the full deck into a strange pipeline that shuffled the cards and sent them all around the world, sending them to one of their minions after another.
		The minions were looking for this ace of spades, and one of them finally spotted it and removed it, and the cards were sent back to me.
		By removing the ace at a distant location, the $a[CEO] thought I wouldn&apos;t realise what was happening.
		I was then allowed to look through the deck and keep a card of my choosing, but of course, the card I needed was missing.
	</p>
	<p>
		I think I dreamed my Librem was smaller than it is too, and also waterproof.
		I considered taking it into the bath with me.
		That part&apos;s hazer than the rest of the dream though.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="drudgery">
	<h2>Drudgery</h2>
	<p>
		As usual, the university waited until the final day to approve my course registrations.
		I mean, class starts today and I&apos;ve only now been approved!
		I&apos;d only been approved for one of my two courses though.
		I had this same issue last term.
		I wrote to them to get them to fix the issue, or rather, treat the symptom and approve me for the second course.
		I&apos;m pretty sure a bug was introduced into the system a couple terms ago, but the university refuses to fix their bugs, so I&apos;m not even going to try on this one.
	</p>
	<p>
		I noticed that I&apos;m reaching the end of my copy of the academic calendar, so I went to the university&apos;s main website to retrieve a new one.
		I&apos;d tried before, but the new calendar hadn&apos;t been released yet.
		With this being the final term on the calendar though, I figured they <strong>*had*</strong> to have the new one out by now though.
		What I discovered shocked me though.
		As a part of the university&apos;s continued commitment to being horrible in subtle ways, they&apos;ve now blocked their main website behind one of those obnoxious CloudFlare $a[CAPTCHA] walls.
		After the initial shock, what I found most surprising though is that of the three websites I know they run, they&apos;ve only blocked the main website, which is the least useful and can usually be avoided.
		The only time I need to go there is to get an updated calendar, which only needs to happen once per year.
		I actually found a fourth website run by them in the process of looking for the calendar too, which also wasn&apos;t blocked.
	</p>
	<p>
		Both my professors this term seem to be scatterbrained.
		One posted the learning journal assignment as the &quot;discussion assignment&quot;; it even specifically says to follow certain instructions for the discussion assignment, but asks no other questions and doesn&apos;t even mention the discussion assignment.
		The other posted four separate threads in the discussion forum, with the wrong one labelled as the graded discussion assignment.
		This isn&apos;t going to be a fun term.
		Then again, seeing as this university is terrible and drains me of both my enthusiasm and much of my life energy (for lack of a better term), what term even <strong>*is*</strong> fun any more?
	</p>
	<p>
		My discussion post for the day:
	</p>
	<blockquote>
		<p>
			You say that we should post our initial response on the first or second day, but keep in mind what that actually means.
			Before we can form an intelligent; informed; and coherent response, we usually need to read through the assigned reading material for the week first.
			Most of us are taking two courses each term, and each course can have similar requirements.
			What you&apos;re asking of us is that we get all the reading material for the week in potentially two courses within two days, likely while also having a day job, a family, and other responsibilities.
			Honestly, not all of us have the luxury of getting all that reading done that early on.
			Some weeks, I can meet that requirement with ease, while other weeks, I stand no chance.
			A much more reasonable goal is to get the discussion posts completed during the first half of the week.
			Most courses at this school set a goal of getting our initial post in by Sunday, for example.
		</p>
		<p>
			Also of note, part of the reading assignment is on a webpage that doesn&apos;t allow viewing.
			This may need to be corrected in the assignment materials.
			Hopefully that part of the reading assignment wasn&apos;t too important.
		</p>
		<img src="/img/CC_BY-SA_4.0/y.st./coursework/PHIL1402/thoughtco.png" alt="403 Forbidden" class="framed-centred-image" width="684" height="251"/>
		<h3>Pragmatism</h3>
		<p>
			Pragmatism is so far off from how I think that I can&apos;t give many personal examples of it.
			I&apos;m very much a person of principle, sometimes to the point of forgoing the practical altogether.
			I try to be practical, but if there isn&apos;t any justification beyond &quot;it works&quot;, I can&apos;t get behind a course of action.
			The defining characteristic of pragmatism is that what is right is determined not by the course of action, but by the results said actions lead to.
			It&apos;s an ethics that values the ends above the means, and treats alternate courses of action that lead to the same end as being equivalent (The-Philosophy.com, n.d.).
			I chose to believe that while the ends are important, the means are important too.
			Some actions are worth the risks, even if things don&apos;t turn out as planned.
			Other actions are unforgivable, even if they lead to the perfect outcome.
			Furthermore, we can&apos;t always accurately predict the future.
			Pragmatism isn&apos;t about intentions; it&apos;s about results.
			For past mistakes not to haunt us, we have to take intentions and actions into account when deciding whether we&apos;ve done the right thing.
		</p>
		<p>
			I suppose the only real example I have of pragmatism in my life is that I follow orders from my boss.
			The boss isn&apos;t always right, but even when they&apos;re not, it&apos;s more practical to just do what they say without arguing.
			There&apos;s no need to try to change their mind; it&apos;s easier to just go along with how they want to run things.
		</p>
		<p>
			To sum it up, pragmatism is:
		</p>
		<ul>
			<li>
				Useful for getting results
			</li>
			<li>
				Capable of measuring past successes or failure
			</li>
			<li>
				Incapable of judging an action until the action has already been performed and it&apos;s too late to decide not to do it
			</li>
		</ul>
		<h3>Positivism</h3>
		<p>
			Positivism on the other hand seems to permeate everything I believe in.
			The common modern mindset revolves around people screwing other people in the name of profit, doing immeasurable damage to society for personal, short-term gain.
			For example, patents prevent society from building on recent ideas and improving them.
			Ideas don&apos;t survive through stagnation, but through change and adaptation (Mellone, 1897).
			They even stifle competition, granting a monopoly to one company, instead of allowing other companies to bring prices down by optimising production costs.
			Copyright is a form of censorship, preventing free expression again in the name of profit.
			Positivism rejects this idea that benefiting one party necessarily means harming another.
			If we weren&apos;t all trying to hold one another back, our society would be so much more advanced now than it is.
			Just imagine what we&apos;d be capable of if we&apos;d been properly able to build off existing technologies and improve them instead of having to reinvent old wheels!
			I chose to be a positivist because I think humanity could be so much greater than the horrible mess it is today if we only worked together instead of against one another.
		</p>
		<p>
			As for examples, I try to help others while helping myself.
			I write code that accomplishes tasks I need completed (I&apos;m a computer science major), but unlike most software authors, I release all code I work with under a license that not only allows reuse of my work by others, but outright encourages it.
			I do the same with my less-useful works as well, including the many photographs I&apos;ve taken for my website, and even the website code itself.
			I write mods for a game I enjoy too, again releasing those for anyone that wants them.
			I expect the same in return though too.
			I only use software that allows reuse and resale of the code (free software), and I only buy music from artist that allow other people to reuse and resell it (free culture music).
			I don&apos;t really partake in other forms of media much, due to the lack of options without noxious copyright restrictions, but I do also read a couple freely-licensed Web comics as well as books so old their copyright terms have expired.
			Culture, like technology, is built upon past iterations of culture, so I only support works that embrace this idea of sharing and adapting instead of trying to stop this vital and natural part of being human.
		</p>
		<p>
			To sum it up, positivism:
		</p>
		<ul>
			<li>
				Attempts to work toward the good of society
			</li>
			<li>
				Does not deny one&apos;s own individual worth, needs, and desires
			</li>
		</ul>
		<h3>Realism</h3>
		<p>
			Strangely, while the chapter on realism was easier to understand than the one on positivism, it was much more difficult to understand how it tied in with ethical theory.
			Instead of focusing on what is ethically &quot;right&quot;, realism seems to be about the art of persuasion.
			The realist theory claims that not only does might make things seem right, but also that being right offers might in and of itself (Lebow, 2008).
			Additionally, continuing to hold power and influence often involves having to do the right thing, as followers will abandon you if you appear to be the villain.
			In this way, in both directions, power and ethics become and remain fairly well entangled.
			To me though, this doesn&apos;t seem quite right on multiple levels.
			First of all, most of the power in the world is held by those that are bad for society: mega-corporations such as Microsoft, Disney, Verizon, Comcast, Wal-Mart, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and the like, who hold society back for their own selfish gains.
			I cannot believe that retaining power requires adhering to what is right, because if it did, these companies wouldn&apos;t still hold the power they do today.
			I alco shoose not to believe that just because they have so much power, what they do should automatically be considered &quot;right&quot;.
			Holding popular opinion doesn&apos;t make you right; sometimes, it just makes you a sheep.
			Directing popular opinion doesn&apos;t make you a hero; often times, it just makes you the villainous mastermind leading said sheep.
		</p>
		<p>
			I guess the main example from my own life of this ethical theory in action would be how I censor my website at the demand of this school.
			They hold power over me and weren&apos;t happy with how I was using my free expression.
			Despite being highly opposed to censorship, I&apos;ve had no choice but to respect their authority over me for the time being.
			For now, 366 pages and counting, mostly from my public journal, aren&apos;t available for public viewing.
			It&apos;s a textbook case of giving in to those in power just because they have said power; the relationship between the students and the school is one of archē.
		</p>
		<p>
			While I don&apos;t see realism as a good tool for making ethical decisions, realism has some useful things to teach us, such as that one must be careful in managing resources.
			Use of &quot;dunamis&quot; uses up the resources we call &quot;kratos&quot;, so if we use dunamis too much or to too much of an extreme, it drains what resources you have; your strength will be diminished.
			You need to pick and choose your battles wisely.
			Even if a course of action seems right when looked at ethically, it&apos;s a bad move if it&apos;s going to prevent you from having the resources you need to make the right decisions later.
			Also, we see that a relationship based on peithō is much more healthy than one based on archē.
			The party in charge expends less resources, and the party convinced doesn&apos;t feel subjected.
			Peithō is also more effective than dolos, as it leads people to do what they want and need done as opposed to trying to trick them into going against their own nature.
			It also shows us that revenge isn&apos;t fruitful; it only escalates a problem.
			Even if you think revenge or retaliation is &quot;just&quot;, it&apos;s only going to lead to further losses on your part.
			Realism also gives us a realistic view of the world: it&apos;s the winner of a war that writes the history textbooks.
			The good guys always win, because winning is what gives you the authority to declare yourselves the &quot;good guys&quot;.
		</p>
		<p>
			To sum it up, realism:
		</p>
		<ul>
			<li>
				Gives you a realistic view of the world
			</li>
			<li>
				Teaches you to use resources wisely
			</li>
			<li>
				Doesn&apos;t distinguish as well as you&apos;d like between what you can get away with doing and what you actually should be doing
			</li>
		</ul>
		<div class="APA_references">
			<h2>References:</h2>
			<p>
				Lebow, R. N. (2008, June 9). The Ancient Greeks and Modern Realism: Ethics, Persuasion, and Power. Retrieved from <a href="https://www.dartmouth.edu/~nedlebow/anc_gree_mod_real.pdf"><code>https://www.dartmouth.edu/~nedlebow/anc_gree_mod_real.pdf</code></a>
			</p>
			<p>
				Mellone, S. H. (1897, October). Some of the Leading Ideas of Comte&apos;s Positivism. Retrieved from <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2375350.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Ad91b1a5ae987d106b92b482e0b272303"><code>https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2375350.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Ad91b1a5ae987d106b92b482e0b272303</code></a>
			</p>
			<p>
				The-Philosophy.com. (n.d.). Pragmatism: Definition and Philosophers. Retrieved from <a href="https://www.the-philosophy.com/pragmatism"><code>https://www.the-philosophy.com/pragmatism</code></a>
			</p>
		</div>
	</blockquote>
</section>
<section id="work">
	<h2>Work drama</h2>
	<p>
		The franchise owner apparently stopped by this morning.
		They decided that we don&apos;t take good enough care of our brooms, so they threw them all away aside from one, saying we dont&apos; deserve them.
		They also complained that there&apos;s too much flour everywhere, a problem made worse by our only having one broom with which to sweep it up now.
		They also complained that we&apos;re too messy with the flour, and took away many of our aprons, again, making the problem worse.
		It&apos;s no wonder this workplace is so terrible.
		It&apos;s toxic from the top down!
		Not only is the franchise owner toxic though, they&apos;re clearly also a total moron.
	</p>
	<p>
		Speaking of toxic, it seems my toxic shift leader nearly got fired, and put in their two week&apos;s notice a while ago out of fear they actually were about to be fired.
		The head manager was pretty angry, I hear, so it&apos;s very likely they were in fact about to lose their job anyway.
		The sad part is that they weren&apos;t nearly fired due to their disregard of the safety of the rest of the crew; that just got brushed off.
		Instead, the head manager caught them making a harmless mistake.
		I certainly don&apos;t mind them losing their job; they deserve it.
		I just think they should lose it for the right reason.
	</p>
</section>
END
);
